Heraclea

“ If Heraclea could furnish wives for Giga representatives, as well endowed with reason and as free from prejudicial taint as you are, the labor of educational induction in its inceptive stage would soon be accomplished. For in wifely Heraclean example, the joyous brightness would be reflected with such purity that it would irresistibly attract assimilative reciprocation, in thought, from all within reach of its influence, causing vanity, with its promptings for adornment, to become an exile beyond the reach of material redemption. ”

“ The Roman commander, Cotta, was afterwards prosecuted at Rome for appropriating the plunder of Heraclea, which included a famous statue of Hercules, with a golden club. G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 3, chapter 5. HERACLEIDÆ, OR HERAKLEIDS, The. Among the ancient Greeks the reputed descendants of the demi-god hero, Herakles, or Hercules, were very numerous. "Distinguished families are everywhere to be traced who bear his patronymic and glory in the belief that they are his descendants. ”

“ From your ready appreciation of the higher dispensations of purity and goodness, in exampled enactment, the Heracleans can scarcely realize that you ever participated in the ruling delusions of your race. Your physical comfort, and freedom from insect plagues, in Heraclea, are derived in legacy bestowal from ancestral purity, devised in healthy enactment by the Heracleans to fulfill present attainment. ”

“ And they are mentioned also by Scythinus the Teian, in his work entitled The History, where he says, "Hercules, having taking Eurytus and his son, put them to death for exacting tribute from the people of Euboea. And he laid waste the territory of the Cylicranes for behaving like robbers; and there he built a city called Heraclea of Trachis." ”

“ HERACLIDES PONTICUS, Greek philosopher and miscellaneous writer, born at Heraclea in Pontus, flourished in the 4th century B.C. He studied philosophy at Athens under Speusippus, Plato and Aristotle. According to Suidas, Plato, on his departure for Sicily, left his pupils in charge of Heraclides. ”

“ Heraclides 86. Heraclides, son of Euthyphro, born at Heraclea in the Pontus, was a wealthy man. At Athens he first attached himself to Speusippus. He also attended the lectures of the Pythagoreans and admired the writings of Plato. Last of all he became a pupil of Aristotle, as Sotion says in his Successions of Philosophers. [53] He wore fine soft clothes, and he was extremely corpulent, which made the Athenians call him Pompicus rather than Ponticus. He was mild and dignified of aspect. Works by him survive of great beauty and excellence. ”

“ Heraclea Pontica (mod. Bender Eregli) , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the Kilijsu. It was founded by a Megarian colony, which soon subjugated the native Mariandynians and extended its power over a considerable territory. The prosperity of the city, rudely shaken by the Galatians and the Bithynians, was utterly destroyed in the Mithradatic war. It was the birthplace of Heraclides Ponticus. The modern town is best known for its lignite coal-mines, from which Constantinople receives a good part of its supply. ”

“ Accordingly, this answer was brought back from the oracle to Heraclea, but they who brought it got no advantage from it; for as soon as Heraclides had been crowned in the theatre, he was seized with apoplexy, and the ambassadors who had been sent to consult the oracle were stoned, and so put to death; and at the very same moment the Pythian priestess was going down to the inner shrine, and while standing there was bitten by a serpent, and died immediately. ”

“ Hercules, even in the spot where his worship originated, was represented as a hero of great power abroad: he was the protector of boundaries and (if I may be allowed the expression) of marches: afterwards, when his worship was adopted by the whole of Greece, he was considered as the general guardian of the Grecian colonists. Thus he is represented as contending for the territory of Heraclea on the Pontus, against the aboriginal Bebryces, and in defence of Cyrene against the native Libyans. ”

“ We agree that in the legends of Hercules there is a certain element of magic, such as is found in the legends of Medea, or Jason, or Iphigeneia. This element imports into Heraclean legends a certain degree of lawlessness or of chaos. But, so far as homicide at least is concerned, we will assume that Hercules is a man; not indeed an ordinary man, subject to every ordinary law, but nevertheless a man, whose actions, however archaically they may be conceived, can nevertheless be explained. ”

“ Posidonios, the Stoic, [239] observes, that persons lacking sense to provide for themselves, voluntarily became the slaves of any who would take care of them. Thus the Maryandinians submitted to the citizens of Heraclea, [240] to be their perpetual serfs, stipulating only that they should always be furnished with the necessaries of life, and on no account be sold out of the country. They were in fact simply tributaries, as is implied in the verse of Euphorion, the epic poet ”

“ They built Tartessus in Bœtica, and occupied great part of Iberia. They likewise founded [842] Corunna in Cantabria, and [843] Alesia in Gaul: of which there are traditions to this day. Some of them settled near [844] Arelate; others among the [845] Alpes: also at Cuma, and Heraclea in Campania. They were also to be found at Tyre, and in Egypt; and even in the remotest parts of [846] India. In short, wherever there were Heraclidæ, or Herculeans, an Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has been variously represented. One, while he appears little better than a sturdy vagrant ”

“ Of the wives of Tiberius, Maurice, and Phocas, we know merely the names--respectively, Anastasia, Constantina, and Leontia Augusta. Heraclius's memorable reign was shared with two empresses, the first of whom, Eudocia, did nothing to win publicity, while the career of the second--Martina--recalls the wickedness and the intrigue of Verina and Sophia. But the spouses of the successors of Heraclius did not follow Martina's ignoble example, but were women of whom nothing was recorded either of praise or blame. ”

“ Then the servant told Heracles the story of how Alcestis had taken her husband's place, going in his stead with Death. Heracles thought upon the sorrow of his friend, and of the great sacrifice that his wife was making for him. How noble it was of Admetus to bring him into his house and give entertainment to him while such sorrow was upon him. And then Heracles felt that another labor was before him.
"I have dragged up from the Underworld," he thought, "the hound that guards those whom Death brings down into the realm of the god of the Underworld. Why should I not strive with Death? ”

“ But the Earthborn men on the other side rushed down from the mountain and with crags below blocked up the mouth of vast Chytus towards the sea, like men lying in wait for a wild beast within. But there Heracles had been left behind with the younger heroes and he quickly bent his back-springing bow against the monsters and brought them to earth one after another; and they in their turn raised huge ragged rocks and hurled them. For these dread monsters too, I ween, the goddess Hera, bride of Zeus, had nurtured to be a trial for Heracles. ”

“ But that Heracles should be exposed to any just contempt, Heracles the son of the highest god, the minister of life, privileged to wrestle victoriously with the power of darkness and corruption, to bring quick out of the grave a body upon which the mortal change had actually been accomplished, that Heracles should be semi-comic, or comic at all in the least degree—this seemed, as it is, intolerable, a thing as repugnant to the organic laws of art as a centaur or a chimaera to those of nature. ”

“ It was reinforced at an early date by no less than three temples of Hercules in the more or less immediate neighbourhood, all of which were characterised by the same relative simplicity of ritual. Centuries later Herakles became known to the Romans through direct Greek channels, and it was recognised that this new Herakles was akin to the old Hercules, so that he too was called Hercules. There was nothing surprising in this to the Romans, because they considered it a matter of course that there should be found a parallel among their own gods for each Greek deity. ”

“ Hercules sighed. “I would do so gladly, great goddess,” he answered; “but it is not in my power.”
“Not in your power to open your hand?” she asked, in angry surprise. “We will soon see that,” and she seized her stag by the other horn to pull it away.
“It goes against me,” said Hercules, “to oppose a goddess; but I have got to bring this stag to Mycenæ, and neither gods nor men shall prevent me, so long as I am alive.”
“I am Diana,” she said again, “and I command you to let the stag go.”
“And I,” said he, “am only Hercules, the servant of Eurystheus, and therefore I cannot let it go.” ”

“ HERACLES.
Reach forth thine hand
And touch this comer from a distant land.
ADMETUS (holding out his hand without looking) .
Like Perseus when he touched the Gorgon, there!
HERACLES.
Thou hast touched her?
ADMETUS (at last taking her hand) .
Touched her?... Yes.
HERACLES (a hand on the shoulder of each) .
Then cling to her;
And say if thou hast found a guest of grace
In God's son, Heracles! Look in her face;
Look; is she like...?
[ADMETUS looks and stands amazed.] ”

“ In the midst thereof sat Heracles upon a throne, with the upper part of his body uncovered, and his feet resting upon a stool, according to the rite for the representation of divine personages. His colossal proportions would otherwise have left no doubt as to his apotheosis, and the archaic rudeness and hugeness of the work, wrought by the chisel of some primitive artist, imparted to his figure an air of barbaric majesty, a savage grandeur more appropriate, perhaps, to the character of this monster-slaying hero than would have been the work of a sculptor consummate in his art. ”

“ Heracles believes in one God utterly above human weaknesses. Then what of Zeus’ love of Alcmena, the jealousy of Hera, the whole basis of his suffering as conceived by the orthodox? And what of his own semi-divine nature, the foundation again of his superhuman deeds? They are delusions. Heracles is no demi-god; his exploits, however great and valuable, are in no sense miraculous. This view, moreover, is precisely that which we ought to gain from the early part of the drama. ”

“ Heracles was the God of Strength, but it is very probable that there are some cosmic elements in the conception of this god. His struggle with the serpents in his babyhood resembles very closely other battles in mythology between the sun and the powers of darkness, Ra and Anapef or Apollo and the Python. Hermes, who is a roguish little imp, is full of such tricks as the wind plays, and he has become the model of many a mediæval tale of tricksy thieves and wonder-workers. ”

“ But I cannot think it credible that Heracles would rise to such a pitch of wrath against a daughter of a friend. Moreover, while he was still among men, punishing them for insolence, and especially such as were impious towards the gods, he would not himself have set up a temple and appointed a priestess to himself, just as though he were a god. ”

“ Presently Heracles himself is brought before the eyes of the spectators. In the lamentation wrung from him by his torment two strains are clear above the rest, and each is a strain of thoroughly human anguish. He contrasts the strength in which, through life, he has been the champion of helpless men—"ofttimes on the sea and in all forests ridding them of plagues"—with his own helpless misery in this hour ”

“ Hercules, the typical hero of the Greeks, son of Zeus and Alkmene, and the tried therefore of Hera, who persecuted him from his cradle, sending two serpents to devour him as he lay there, but which he strangled with his arms; grown into manhood, and distinguished for his stature and strength, was doomed by the artifice of Hera to a series of perilous adventures before he could claim his rights as a son of his father ”

“ In youth they are strong, and their limbs are quick with health; in old age they look back upon a happy life; and when they lie down to the sleep of death their name is cherished among men for their brave and good deeds. Love me, therefore, Herakles, and obey my words, and thou shalt dwell with me, when thy toil is ended, in the home of the undying gods."
Then Herakles bowed down his head and sware to follow her counsels; and when the two maidens passed away from his sight he went forth with a good courage to his labor and suffering. ”

“ Heraclius himself lived to see—so cruel are the vicissitudes of fortune—the very provinces which he had wrested from the hands of the fire-worshippers, in the hands of the more insolent followers of the False Prophet, and the Crescent planted within sight of the walls of Constantinople. ”

“ Admetus:
Easier to give such counsel than to keep.
Heracles:
Who will be happier, shouldst thou always weep?
Admetus:
Why, none. Yet some blind longing draws me on...
Heracles:
'Tis natural. Thou didst love her that is gone.
Admetus:
'Tis that hath wrecked, oh more than wrecked, my life.
Heracles:
'Tis certain: thou hast lost a faithful wife.
Admetus:
Till life itself is dead and wearies me.
Heracles:
Thy pain is yet young. Time will soften thee,
The veiled Woman begins dimly, as though in a dream, to hear the words spoken. ”